Films Born from Place, Shaped by People

My work does not originate from travel, but from territory. Although my films circulate internationally and are screened at festivals in several countries, their point of departure is always rooted in local cultures and in the deep relationship between people and the places they inhabit. I work with living traditions, collective memory, and cultural identity — not with destinations, but with belonging.

Over the years, I have developed projects centred on the Romaria da Agonia and other expressions of the intangible cultural heritage of northern Portugal. These are films built from within, shaped by time, proximity, and responsibility. I do not observe these cultures as a passerby; I am part of them. This fundamentally defines my perspective as a filmmaker.

It is precisely for this reason that the international circulation of my films carries particular meaning. When I present this work at festivals in Greece, Georgia, Brazil, South Africa, or Spain, I realise that what is deeply local can also be universal. Audiences may not know Viana do Castelo, may never have seen a mordoma or a filigree heart, yet they recognise the gestures, the emotion, and the care. They recognise human relationships. They recognise memory.

In my films, landscape is never a decorative backdrop. It exists in dialogue with the people who shape it every day. I am less interested in sweeping views than in detail: a mother fastening a beaded necklace around her daughter’s neck, hands preparing a traditional costume, the concentrated silence before a song begins. These moments cannot be staged. They require time, trust, and a discreet presence of the camera.

Working with local cultures demands a clear ethical position. Every image carries a story that does not belong solely to me, but to an entire community. To film identity is to accept that responsibility and to resist the temptation to simplify, romanticise, or turn tradition into spectacle.

My cinema is born from territory and always returns to it — enriched by dialogue with other places, other cultures, and other ways of seeing.